Adler asks to meet with Indigenous leaders amid Senate controversy

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This article was published 20/08/2024 (410 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Broadcaster Charles Adler wants to meet with Manitoba First Nations leaders who called for his recent Senate appointment to be rescinded due to some of his past comments about Indigenous people.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said Adler made “vulgar and racist commentary” during broadcasts in 1999, and expressed outrage over the decision to give him one of the province’s six seats in the Red Chamber.

“I am accountable for what I say and do,” Adler said in a statement. “I’ve reached out to the Grand Chief and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, to request a face-to-face meeting. I look forward to hearing from them.”

Earlier, Adler appeared to brush aside criticism, while AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick and other First Nations leaders repeated their calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to revoke the appointment.

Adler, who declined an interview request, wrote in a social media post he is expecting criticism throughout his time as a senator.

“Getting criticized is nothing new. Happened every minute of every day for more than 30 yrs of Talk Radio,” the former Free Press columnist wrote on X. “Looks like it’ll be much the same for next 5 yrs as Senator. Politics is a contact sport. If you don’t want to the take the hits, do something else.”

Adler turns 70 on Aug. 25. Senators serve until they reach a mandatory retirement age of 75 or choose to step down.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, invited Adler to meet with and learn from First Nations elders and people.

“I know that it’s hurtful when people like that are appointed to positions of such high prominence in this country,” Woodhouse Nepinak said at an unrelated event in Winnipeg. “We have to come to a better way in this country. We look forward to working with Canadians, but at the same time, when things like that happen it sets us back just a little bit.”

She said more First Nations people need to be appointed to the Senate.

Trudeau announced Saturday that Simon appointed Adler to a vacant Manitoba seat in the 105-member Senate. The appointment also prompted criticism from Winnipeg Liberal MP Dan Vandal.

On Monday, the Liberal cabinet minister said in a statement there are many Manitobans “better suited” to represent the province than Adler.

The governor general appoints senators on the advice of the prime minister. Adler was recommended to Trudeau by the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, which reviewed submissions.

It was unclear who nominated Adler for the vacancy. The Prime Minister’s Office has not commented further. The Free Press has contacted Simon’s office for comment.

“How do you go from appointing a First Nations hero and role model like Judge Murray Sinclair to the complete antithesis of such an individual?”– Cathy Merrick, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs

Pierre-Alain Bujold, a spokesman for the Privy Council Office, which is responsible for the appointments process, said the board prepares a non-binding short list of five candidates for the prime minister’s consideration for each vacancy to be filled.

“As per the advisory board’s terms of reference, all personal information provided to, and deliberations of, the advisory board, including nominations, are confidential and treated in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act,” Bujold wrote in an email.

The board has two Manitoba representatives — lawyer Sofia Mirza and Mondetta Clothing CEO Ash Modha. Mirza and Modha deferred comment to spokespeople in Ottawa.

Appointees are nominated or apply on their own behalf. They must meet constitutional eligibility requirements and merit-based criteria established by the government.

The Liberal government overhauled the appointment process in 2016 — a move touted as a way to reduce partisanship and patronage appointments. Adler is one of 84 “independent” appointments made on the advice of Trudeau, the PMO’s news release said.

The Pierre Poilievre-led federal Conservatives criticized Adler’s appointment as partisan.

Merrick and Angela Levasseur, acting grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, again called on Trudeau and Simon to rescind Adler’s appointment.

The AMC cited past comments by Adler, then a CJOB radio show host, in 1999, including one in which he referred to Indigenous leaders as “boneheads.”

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council later dismissed a complaint filed by the AMC, arguing Adler had made fair political commentary.

“Those who occupy positions of power on the reserves may legitimately be described, on account of the decisions which they make, as ‘boneheads’ or ‘intellectually moribund’ by opinion-holders in the media,” a 2000 decision stated.

“They’re pretty derogatory comments when it comes to our people,” said Merrick. “People forget that we are the first people of this country, and for comments like that to be made from someone that is going to be appointed into the Senate is not acceptable, because you carry those thoughts. You carry those thoughts with you, how you perceive a people.”

Levasseur said Adler made “derogatory and offensive comments” toward Indigenous Peoples.

“How do you go from appointing a First Nations hero and role model like Judge Murray Sinclair to the complete antithesis of such an individual?” she said. “You are rewarding discrimination, you are rewarding racism, you are rewarding stereotyping of First Nations and Indigenous people. And it’s very shameful, and it’s a dark day.”

Christopher Adams, adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, wondered if the Prime Minister’s Office was aware of the 1999 comments that led to the complaint.

“My guess is they’re surprised by what’s come up,” he said. “It doesn’t help Justin Trudeau with local First Nations.”

— with files from Nicole Buffie

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca